Saratoga Hospital breaks ground for surgery center

WILTON -- Saratoga Hospital broke ground Wednesday for its ambulatory surgery center designed to get patients in and out in less than a day. The $10 million, 23,700-square-foot facility on Route 50 at the Wilton Medical Arts Campus is set to have four operating rooms, three gastrointestinal rooms, two pain management rooms and pre- and post-operative areas. The expected completion date is January 2004. "It's very important -- we're out of surgical capacity at the hospital," said David Andersen, president and CEO of Saratoga Hospital. He added that when people go to the hospital for minor surgery "they get bumped" by people in need of emergency surgery. This can result in a rescheduled appointment or an overnight stay, said Cathy Hamel, chief nursing officer and project manager for the new center. The center will also have less of a clinical setting. "Patients don't like to go into a hospital," said Barry Maisel, chairman of the surgery department. In the beginning, he said, the center will focus on ophthalmology and orthopedic surgery because they are conducive to outpatients. The hospital would continue to take outpatients until the new center phased in the rest, he said. Councilman Ian McGaughey, D-Wilton, said that though he thinks the center is a great idea, some people in the community feel it will add to the traffic congestion on Route 50. Hospital officials said they had taken this into consideration during development. "We only expect to serve 50 to 60 patients a day here," Andersen said. "That's not going to add to the numbers in a large degree." He added that while patients wait, they'll be given a beeper so they might leave the hospital and come back when the doctor is ready for them. The general wait time would decrease from six to eight hours to three to four hours, he said. "It's more efficient," Hamel said of the center. Patients "don't get bogged down. They get in and get out."